Friday, Aug 26, 2016

UAE thrill-seekers, fasten your seatbelts. Starting on Wednesday, the emirate of Dubai will finally become a destination for lovers of rollercoasters and other head-spinning attractions when IMG Worlds Of Adventure opens, the first of a number of theme parks to launch this autumn.

The indoor park, which the operators say is the biggest of its kind in the world, opens with 22 rides and attractions in four themed worlds, under one roof on Mohammad Bin Zayed Road just beyond Global Village.

It comes little over two months before four more theme parks open near Jebel Ali, where Dubai Parks and Resorts has Legoland (and Legoland Waterpark), Motiongate and Bollywood Parks coming on October 31. A Six Flags theme park — which the Wall Street Journal this week reported will have the world’s biggest rollercoaster — is coming in 2019.

IMG Worlds of Adventure is a world-class theme park, said CEO Leonard Otto during a media tour last Monday, during which some, but not all, of the rides were opened to journalists (Otto says when the park opens on Wednesday, after a delay of two weeks from the planned launch of August 15, all attractions will be operational).

“From a ride standpoint, we’ve picked the best ride vendors from around the world — the same ride vendors you’ll see today in Disney and Universal [theme parks]”. The park has access to characters and themes from Marvel Studios, owned by Disney, which was actively involved with the design of the Marvel Zone — “how it’s been created, the standards that have been set”.

The Cartoon Network’s team was involved in the Cartoon Network zone, while the park’s own creation is the dinosaur-themed Lost Valley. “The owners, Mr Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari, came up with their own concept for the Lost Valley, and they worked with international designers to come up with and materialise their vision, their dream, into what you see today.”

Theme park technology is moving beyond simply throwing patrons down rollercoaster tracks, however. “Dark” rides are becoming a must-have, and there are several to try here. In these indoor attractions, riders board a coaster that still throws the traditional loops and bends, to sickening effect, but you never know what’s coming, because you can’t see the ride before you board. That’s nothing new — ghost trains have been around for decades — but multimedia displays have changed the genre, giving the feeling of flying through scenarios — if you can keep your eyes open. Orlando-based Oceaneering developed IMG World of Adventure’s interactive dark rides (they made Transformers rides at Universal Studios in Hollywood and Singapore), while the majority of the rollercoasters were made by Germany’s Mack Rides.

That’s not the end of, it, by the way: The park will expand to 27 attractions in the next five years, with one new ride each year, and those are likely to be pegged to new Marvel films, as the park has access to the whole bouquet of characters, adds Otto, a self-confessed thrill-seeker whose favourite ride is the Velociraptor (“it’s got a great element of media to it, which is unusual for a rollercoaster”).

Did you know?

The ceiling of the park is covered in sound-proofing black arches to muffle the noise created by the rides and the screaming guests as they fly through the air, and though it’s nearly 140,000 square metre in area, a circular format means the park isn’t exhaustingly large,. There are plenty of places to stop and rest, and be encouraged to shop for food and merchandise. It takes 6-8 hours to do 60 per cent of the park, which, says Otto, is what most people can manage in one go. Do take a sweater: The indoor park is chilly, and there are lockers all over where you can leave your belongings when needed. This is especially important as mobile phones and cameras are not permitted on any of the rides, and rides will automatically stop if anyone is spotted trying to take a selfie.

Natalie Long, tabloid! Editor

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